Adoration (Catholic Communion, Eucharistic Adoration)
Meaning
Catholic Adoration is also known as “Catholic Communion” or “Transubstantiation.” This is a strictly Catholic belief that Jesus is physically present in the Eucharist ceremony. The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and the wine used in the communion service become not just a symbol of our commitment to Jesus, but in actual reality the physical body and blood of Christ. Jesus is called the “Passover Lamb of God.” This is because Jesus shed His blood to pay for our sins on the Cross. If we look back at the first Passover lamb, the blood of which was placed on the door posts and lentils, occurred during the Exodus. As we study the Bible, we learn that this was a picture of Christ to come. God gave the Jewish people the Passover in order to show them the need for redemption. The “Passover Lamb” was therefore a picture of Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross to come.
Jesus in the Gospel accounts, the night before He was crucified, shared bread and wine with His disciples. Jesus told them the wine represented his blood that would soon be shed for the remission of sins, and the bread represented His body broken as part of the sacrifice for our sins. He also told them that His followers are to do this in remembrance of Him. Therefore, we as followers of Christ are to take communion with one another as a remembrance of Him and what He did for us. That is to remember that Jesus gave Himself and shed His blood for us in order that through God’s grace we could have the remission of sins. Whereas protestant denominations follow this command as a ceremony by which Jesus is remembered. The Catholic church believes the bread and wine used during communion, actually become the body and blood of Christ. The name “Adoration” was used because during this ceremony, we not only remember Jesus for what He did for us, but we also adore Him as our King and Savior, and we give praise to the Lord because He first loved us and gave Himself that we may spend eternity with Him.
“Then He said to them, ‘With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Gospel of Luke 22:15-20)